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Ebenezer Allen, a man from Galveston, Texas, obtained the charter to establish a railroad company on March 11, 1848. A series of meetings about the establishment of the company occurred in Chappell Hill and Houston. In 1852, the Galveston and Red River Railway (G&RR) company became active.[1]

The start of construction occurred on January 1, 1853, when Paul Bremond and Thomas William House broke ground in Houston. Track-laying of the 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm)[2]gauge railroad began in early 1856. On July 26, 1856, the track-laying reached the 25-mile (40 km) point, at Cypress. The railroad company name changed from G&RR to H&TC on September 1, 1856. By April 22, 1861 the railroad construction had reached the 81-mile (130 km) point at Millican. Because of the American Civil War, the railroad construction was halted. In 1867, with the Civil War over, construction resumed.[1]

In 1867, the H&TC railroad company took control of the Washington County Railroad (1856–1868). That railroad consisted of 25 miles (40 km) of railroad line between Brenham, Texas and Hempstead, Texas, which had been chartered in 1856 and completed in April 1861 with a gauge of 5 feet 6 inches. The H&TC extended the Washington County Railroad line to Austin. On December 25 (Christmas Day) 1871 the extension to Austin was completed.[1]

Warranty Deed, filed in Leon County, Texas on November 11, 1948 in Volume 170 Page 3, refers to a portion of the H.&T.C.R.R. within the John Fuller Survey, Abstract 272. It is near the defunct T.&B.V.R.R, Trinity and Brazos Valley Railroad, which is now operated by BNSF Railway, formerly Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad Company.